Adam’s Ale
By
Shelby G. Floyd
A few weeks ago I was visiting in
This week while browsing some of my sermon notes, I found out that it was not original with me. E. Claude Gardner had a little note in the Gospel Advocate many years ago with the title “Gleanings.” One of his gleanings is a brief quotation about Abraham Lincoln and Liquor that was made to the committee at the Chicago Convention when he was told that he had been nominated for the Presidency. His statement is here quoted verbatim:
“Gentlemen,
we must pledge our mutual healths in the most healthy beverage which God has given to man. It is the
only beverage I have ever used or allowed in my family, and I cannot
conscientiously depart from it on this present occasion. It is pure Adam’s ale
from the spring.”
Abraham Lincoln also said, “Whiskey has many defenders, but no defense.” Mr. Lincoln was a great opponent of strong drink. It is still true that whiskey and strong drink has many defenders, but there are no plausible arguments that can be made in its behalf. Strong drink is one of the greatest curses that have ever beset our country. There are millions of alcoholics. There are an equal number of persons who are classed as problem drinkers. The drinking of strong drink and drunkenness causes over thousands of deaths annually on our nations highways. Many times this number of persons is injured for life, resulting from accidents caused by drinking drivers.
The Bible has
much to say about strong drink, and the evils that are associated with it.
Solomon is noted for his wisdom, and the books that are written by him are
inspired. In the book of Proverbs we have some of the greatest principles on
ethics and morality that can be found. Solomon said, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is
deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20: 1). Wine is a mocker in that
the man who drinks wine mocks things that are decent and wholesome. Those who
drink wine and strong drink are deceived, and they are not wise. In the New
Testament Paul said, “Do not be deceived:
God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7, NIV).
Those who drink
wine and strong drink usually come to poverty, because the labor of their hands
is used to buy the fiery liquid. Their families are often deprived of food,
clothing and other necessities of life in order to gratify their desires for
strong drink. Solomon said, “He who loves
pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.”
(Proverbs 21:17, NIV). Isaiah also said, “Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh, for the
drunkard and the glutton shall come
to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags” (Proverbs 23:
20-21).
The liquor industry advertises its products in glowing terms. Strong drink is usually associated with the young and those who are successful; but such is far from being a true picture of those who are taken in by such deceitfulness. Solomon described the humiliation brought upon those who go to wine when he said,
“Who has
woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has
complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of
eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those
who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is
red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites
like a serpent, And stings like a viper” (Proverbs 23:29-32).
There are some persons who have tried to use the Bible as approving
the use of wine. But Solomon says, “Do
not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly”
(Proverbs
It is
a dangerous precedent for any nation of people to become a race of alcoholics.
There are many examples of nations who have fallen because of the people being
addicted to strong drink.
In the fifth
chapter of Daniel we read about the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar,
by the name of Belshazzar, who made a great feast for
his princes; and they drank wine out of the vessels of gold, silver and brass
that were taken out of the
It is high time
that the drinking of strong drink be branded for the evil that it really is.
The faithful Christian cannot have any fellowship with such works of darkness.
Paul wrote to the Romans and admonished them: “Let us behave
decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual
immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy” (Romans
Someone has said, “There is an old fable which tells of a man who had the choice of three sins that he could commit—drunkenness, adultery or murder. He chose drunkenness as apparently the least; but when he was drunk he committed both the others. Who shall reckon up the number of crimes committed under the influence of strong drink? Crimes from the very thought of which the individuals who perpetuated them would in their sober senses have shrunk back appalled.”
Isaiah said,
“Woe to those
who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and
light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own
sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at
mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to
the innocent”(Isaiah 5:20-23).
Therefore, as for myself, the next time I go out to have a meal with family and friends and the waiter says, “What will you have to drink?” I will simply say, “Bring me Adam’s Ale!” *
* Copyright © 2010 Shelby Floyd, All Rights Reserved